Gil, an armless man, paces around the Madrid streets to beg for money. Several sympathetic passersby place coins in Gil's denim jacket pockets. Marta, Gil's wife, soon arrives to feed Gil his meal. She criticizes him, saying that he is not begging enough. She argues that he only thinks of himself and not his wife and kids. Gil says he's tired of begging, and that if he could ride around the city one day, he would buy a pair of nice leather shoes that he once saw at a store. Gil thinks they would look good on his feet because they are very slender and arched. Marta belittles his aspirations and calls him ungrateful. She tells Gil to not come home early like the previous night because they need as much money as he can earn. She asserts to Gil that he doesn’t realize how lucky he is to have no arms because he could make a fortune if he tried. Gil angrily dismisses her and tells her to go home.   Gil thinks to himself that he’d rather have one arm than any riches. He despises Marta and resolves to pray to saint Theresa for her to die. It soon becomes a hot afternoon, and Gil does not earn much. He watches the shoes of the passersby and thinks that none are as beautiful as the leather ones he saw in the store. He feels a sudden desire to buy the shoes in Calle de Toledo. He knows he could never afford their price of twelve pesetas but still feels motivated to try.

At a cafe nearby, a card game that has been going on all night finishes. One player wins all the stakes of nearly three thousand pesetas. He passes by Gil and gives him two five-peseta pieces. In shock, Gil resolves to buy the shoes immediately. He successfully tries on the shoes at the store and purchases them. As Gil walks back, he feels an indescribable bliss that allows him to forget he has no arms and about Marta's existence. But then, he imagines Marta's inevitable anger since he has little left of the day’s earnings. As he gets closer to his home, Gil decides to sell his shoes for cheap to a man for three pesetas. He goes back home and knows Marta will not scold him as much. However, he becomes sad again as he thinks of the difficulties of being armless.